Soeren Henn

Postage stamps of Ireland, 1982. Issue under the EUROPA-CEPT program. Unknown author, mid-19th century. Engraving from "The Illustrated London News". (postage stamp of 26 pence).

Got Theory? @soerenhenn.bsky.social and Connor Huff theorize how information about past #repression is transmitted across generations to shape long-run patterns of #loyalty and #rebellion toward the #state. Read their full article on the 1845-49 #Irish #Potato #Famine: doi.org/10.1353/wp.2...

We estimate that at the time of the Scramble for Africa, there were more than 40,000 independent polities in Africa. 2/2

I have a new VoxDev post out which discusses my forthcoming paper with James Robinson in the Annual Review of Economics. In it we put forward the idea that many African societies were organized around the goal of limiting centralization of authority. And they succeeded! 1/2

This paper has been a long time in the making (data collection started in 2015!) and it took a village. Huge thanks to our partners at ODEP in Kinshasa, our amazing RAs, Marakuja Kivu Research, and funding from DFID and ICTD. 11/11

Overall our paper shows that empowering citizens not only reduces citizens’ informal payments to opportunistic state agents but also increases formal payments to the state and induces citizens to expand engagement with the state. 10/11

This figure shows the coefficients for the protection and information treatments on the average treatment effect and intensive margin for all payment categories.

When we look at payment amounts we find suggestive evidence that the protection treatment (and again, to a lesser extent, information) reduced payment amounts consistent with the prediction that empowerment should reduce informal payment amounts. 9/11

We also find that effects were amplified when ODEP followed through with an anti-corruption advocacy campaign, suggesting that credible civil society backing is key. 8/11

This figure shows the coefficients for the protection and information treatments on the extensive margins. Panel a shows all payment categories while panel b restricts the sample to a set of (prespecified) payment categories that are most common and where we expect high levels of predation (these include electricity, sanitation, and licenses for businesses and education and health, life events, electricity and water, and sanitation for households).

We find strong evidence that protection, and to a lesser extent information, produced positive extensive margin effects.

The protection treatment increased the number of citizens making payments for the first time or making formal payments. 7/11

F I G U R E 4 Randomization design. Notes: Two-stage randomization design, where, in the first stage, avenues are randomly assigned to be either control or treated avenues, and then, in the second stage, respondents from the treated avenues are randomly assigned to one of the three treatment conditions.

We enrolled 271 households and businesses in our study and had them fill out a weekly survey of all their formal and informal payments for up to 19 weeks. 6/11

The *information* treatment gave citizens individualized guidance on what they legally owe so state agents couldn't exploit their uncertainty.

The *protection* treatment connected citizens to ODEP, an influential Congolese civil society org that could advocate on their behalf. 5/11

Is it possible to shift away from such a low-revenue, low engagement equilibrium?

We study the effects of two randomized interventions designed to empower citizens in their interactions with opportunistic or predatory state agents. 4/11

Our baseline survey of 1,067 households and business owners in Kinshasa, DRC tells such a story: citizens make few payments to the state, mostly to access services, and formal and informal payments are positively correlated. 3/11

In many low-income countries, citizens avoid the state. They don't register businesses, forego documents, and opt out of state services, not because they don't want them, but because engaging with the state means exposure to opportunistic demands by state agents. 2/11

🧵 New paper out in AJPS! "Seeing like a citizen: Experimental evidence on how empowerment affects engagement with the state"

With @lbp2106.bsky.social, @wilsonprichard.bsky.social, @cdsamii.bsky.social, and Raúl Sánchez de la Sierra.

doi.org/10.1111/ajps...

1/11

An argument that the political history of Africa is a surprising success story as Africans achieved what they set out to accomplish, from Soeren J. Henn and James A. Robinson www.nber.org/papers/w34546

Great post with advice for people wanted to do work in development.

This morning, M23 entered #Bukavu and took control of key locations including the governor’s residence and Ruzizi 1 border crossing. Amidst broader confusion, M23 entry had been erroneously reported since Friday night owing to inconclusive videos circulating on social media.

I am so excited to have Anton as a colleague soon!

Delighted that my paper received an honorable mention and to be among a group of such amazing scholarship which received recognition this year. For anyone interested in the paper, the open access link is here: www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Nursery has tenure nowadays???